Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Brain Hospital Child Adolescent Psychiatry Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Yektaş talked about the effects of violent games on children and the reasons why they are preferred and gave important advice to families.
Stating that violent games normalize the concept of "violence" in children, experts emphasize that this situation is effective in carrying violence into normal life. Stating that violent games can create a "reverse identity" effect in children, experts say, "Especially children and adolescents who cannot establish healthy peer relationships in real life, experience exclusion, and have a negative sense of self can start to express themselves through the identity they acquire through these games. The acceptance of some behaviors that are normally negative or unwanted and unaccepted in society in certain environments or communities means the reinforcement of these behaviors."
Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital Child Adolescent Psychiatry Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Yektaş talked about the effects of violent games on children and the reasons why they are preferred and gave important advice to families.
Violence is rewarded in virtual environment
First of all, it is necessary to talk about how violent behaviors are normalized in computer games, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Yektaş said, "It is possible to talk about the almost rewarding effects of violent behaviors that we impose sanctions and punishments in real life in the virtual environment. The roles acquired in such games, the violent behaviors shown by the virtual characters under the management of children, are often elaborately fictionalized and presented as a way to level up or gain power in the game. This contrast between real life and virtual environment is easy for an adult to understand, but for a child and adolescent, these behaviors are accepted as normal and internalized."
Children take violence from games to real life
Pointing out that after a while, the child starts to use brute force in response to the person who hits him in real life as in the game, Yektaş said, "He starts to use tools such as knives and guns that can harm the other person and starts to see these as normal behavior. As a result, angry behaviors disproportionate to the situation or aggressive approaches as a form of problem solving may emerge. On the other hand, abstract concepts such as death cannot be fully internalized and understood by a child until adolescence. Characters who die in the game but are immediately resurrected again can also increase confusion and result in the child not being able to foresee the real consequences of a possible violent behavior."
They offer the opportunity to try what cannot be tried
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Yektaş talked about the opportunities that games offer to children and the consequences they cause:
"The virtual fiction of online games actually provides a space of freedom that allows you to get rid of the limits of our life with few rewards, a lot of trouble and rules, to act a little more independently, and to experience aspects of your identity that you will perhaps never experience in reality. This virtual fiction in games can negatively affect children's consciousness, memory, perception of time and awareness of identity. In particular, games with more intense emotions, especially with the recent increase in reality, can cause disconnection experiences in children and adolescents, which we call dissociation, where the distinction between reality and unreality can be disrupted. Dissociation means the disconnection of the person from the current reality. At this point, the main problem is where dissociation occurs and whether it is maintained in real life. If it continues, the experiences of being immersed in violent fiction in the game or being passively affected can be carried to real life in behaviors that are put into action and unfortunately result in violent incidents."
It creates a reverse identity effect in children
Yektaş reminded that adolescence and childhood is a period when the sense of curiosity and discovery, the need to try and prove oneself increases a lot, "However, this is a period when impulse control and anger management have not yet fully developed. Games have a very distracting effect for children and adolescents despite their negative aspects due to their rewarding effects, even if they are violent. Especially children and adolescents who cannot establish healthy peer relationships in real life, experience exclusion, and have a negative sense of self can begin to express themselves through the identity they acquire through these games. This is actually what we call the reverse identity effect. The acceptance of certain behaviors that are normally negative or undesirable and unaccepted in society in certain environments or communities means that these behaviors are reinforced. Therefore, it increases the frequency of problematic behaviors by supporting the development of negative identity in vulnerable children and adolescents who cannot make healthy identity experiments. As a result, the picture we see is desensitization to violence, increase in hostile feelings, violence and aggression behaviors in the face of problems."
Games on the market should be supervised
Stressing the importance of the necessary inspections of the games put on the market by the institutions of our state, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Yektaş said, "However, it is not enough. The duty of families is to monitor not only the duration of children's screen exposure but also the purposes of use, the content of the games they play and their age-appropriateness. Supervision must start at a very early age. It is necessary to explain the details and reasons for the supervision in an appropriate way. At this point, it is also important that the relationship with the child is open and transparent in order to understand the problem the child is experiencing. Otherwise, it will not be possible to go beyond supervision, punishment and sanctions."
